My iPod #230: They Might Be Giants - Cyclops Rock

This is the end... for now. I've come to the last of the 'Cs', and starting from tomorrow there won't be posts for a while. I enjoy typing these; I hope you like reading them. I may come across as a bit repetitive or just silly in general, telling you how I feel about songs and trying to 'review' them without having technical music knowledge is quite challenging, but it gives me something to do everyday... so it's all good.

"Cyclops Rock" is a tune from They Might Be Giants' album "Mink Car" from 2001. After John Linnell's track about a mesmerizing hair cut comes John Flansburgh's about..... I'm not so sure. I don't want to say the lyrics are nonsensical or random because there probably is a clear meaning behind them.... I can't tell. What does "cyclops rocking" entail? How is it different from plain rocking? I'm only joking.

It doesn't really matter when it comes TMBG. All of their songs have that sort of thing about them. Who cares what the song is trying to say when it rocks as hard as this. Starting with three chimes of tubular bells, "Cyclops" launches into life with Flansburgh shouting the chorus at you along with some great guitar playing and sliding saxophone notes by Linnell on the side. Full of energy, very quick, a cameo by Cerys Matthews in the bridge (which was actually meant for the late Joe Strummer at one point). Three things you can expect from this song.

Well, that's it. Cs are done. Bring on the Ds.

See ya.

My iPod #229: Pavement - Cut Your Hair

Ah.... the first Pavement song I ever heard. It all started from this.

I was ten years old, probably getting to eleven, and I was downstairs nice and early whilst everyone else stayed in their beds to watch the music videos on MTV2. "Cut Your Hair" came on, played for the its three minute duration, and then was gone. But it got stuck in my head. The "ooh ooh ooh" chorus, the easy-to-remember 'riff' (don't know whether it's a riff or not)..... I am certain that that was the only time I saw the video on that channel before it got revamped, renamed and whatever else the company did to totally remove its credibility.

The music video is really simple and not at all serious. The band come into a barbershop, weird things happen when each member sits in the chair resulting in no one getting their hair cut and they leave when the song finishes. Does it have anything to do with the song? Not really. It's more of an obscure "Hey we're Pavement" type thing, seeing as this was the band's first proper music video to go with a song that did quite well commercially. Although, it did leave me wondering who played what instrument and who the person singing was.

Anyway, "Cut Your Hair" is a song about people in the music industry caring more about their appearances than they do about the actual music. It is sarcastic in tone, something supported by Malkmus' trademark loose and "off-key" vocal.

I liked it so much I put the video on my Piczo site; every kid who was in Year Six (2005/06) will know what I'm talking about. Too bad that company died, and my site is gone now.

"Cut Your Hair" is on the band's second album "Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain" from 1994.

My iPod #228: The Used - Cut Up Angels

"Cut Up Angels" is a track from The Used's second album "In Love and Death". I already gave my thoughts about it when I wrote a post for "All That I've Got" last year, and so this whole sentence will be linked to it.

The track actually comes right after that song. After a sample of what appears to be amusement park music, someone counts-in, a lone guitar plays with some backwards singing (which reversed is Bert yelping out "Happiness Is a Warm Gun" by The Beatles) before the rest of the band joins along.

The lyrics mostly concern the themes of love, sex and suicide. Lines such as "going out at the same time" and the loss to the brain "feeling like a gun" probably reinforce the last of those three a greater amount. They could also refer to a 'petit mort' (something my English teacher taught us when he went off at his daily tangents during his lessons) which is describes the state of unconsciousness one goes through after 'sexual experiences'. Maybe the double suicide that is hinted at is actually a thought of a couple having an orgasm at the same time. I don't know what "cleaning up the mess" would mean though. You know what, this is too weird. I'll stop there.

I do like this song though. Obviously, otherwise why would I type about it? It was one I added to my iPod straight away after listening to the album in full before I started Year 10. The last minute or so is glorious when Bert starts shrieking out the repeated choruses before the track mellows out, all except for a noise which repeats and segues into the next song.

My iPod #227: Billy Talent - Cut the Curtains

I just completely messed up my dinner by leaving it on the cooker for too long. I am a bit depressed now. I had to throw it in the bin; there was no way it could be salvaged. I had the same thing to eat yesterday and it was so good...... :( ffs. I think that cooker is too OP, I didn't even have it on a high flame.... I'll just cook it tomorrow.

It almost the end of the C section on my iPod, and it is getting to the year anniversary of when I actually first started this thing. Expect the 'D' (hehe) next month sometime. Late Feb.

"Cut the Curtains" is a track from Billy Talent's self-titled debut album. The ninth track on it to be exact. I first listened to the track many years ago, when I wanted to hear all the songs the band made after I'd seen them on the television when I was eight or so.

Even then it was only thirty second samples of it because I didn't know any downloading sites where you didn't have to pay. I did eventually get it as a present for my tenth/eleventh birthday, I am not too sure.

After all these years, I still enjoy this album just as much as when I first got it. "Cut the Curtains" isn't the sole reason why, it is one out of twelve songs that never diminishes on energy, volume, and overall awesomeness.

This track is quite different to the others. It uses a riff, one which I think Ian D'Sa referred to as a chicken, that is practically repeated throughout the song (intro, verses, choruses and all). It probably contains the only part on the album when a track goes quiet for a few seconds. It's not as quick and pacy as the others, but has a menacing tone and smoothness about it that you still have to move about to it. It's cool.

The subject matter.... Artifice in a relationship? Maybe? Just a guess.

My iPod #227: The Who - Cut My Hair

"Cut My Hair" is the fourth track on The Who's sixth album and second 'rock opera' "Quadrophenia". It is sung by the main songwriter and guitarist Pete Townshend with lead vocalist Roger Daltrey providing melodies in the chorus.

"Quadrophenia" got me through some lonely times. Hearing it in Summer 2010 and being bored due to staying in my house all the time made me take pointless walks around the local area. Sometimes I would go to the shops or go to my aunt's house around the corner and just chill there until I felt like I wanted to get back home again.

Weather-wise, I distinctly remember that summer not being very great. Rain or slight overcast that turned into dark and gloomy clouds, and I would sing this song all the time when I went on my excursions. It got me through it.

Townshend decribed the song as: "A domestic interlude. The boy recalls a row with his folks that culminated in his leaving home. We also hear a news broadcast mentioning riots in Brighton between Mods and Rockers, events at which he was present the previous week."

I can say I cannot relate to any of that, I like my family a lot. The latter relates to the concept/context of the album which I won't go into. It's too much.

But yeah, the song's good. Have a listen. I'll be back tomorrow. 

My iPod #226: The Fratellis - Cuntry Boys & City Girls

And that's not me being vulgar. That is the title of the track.

You've gotta love a bit of wordplay. The boys are from the country, but are also obsessed about the the female sex organ, you see.

What it's all about is basically all in the title name. Girls from the city goes to the country, boys see them and are attracted, girls find themselves 'strangely' attracted to them.... good times occur.

I honestly can't sing along to this because the lyrics aren't embedded in my head, even though I've had "Costello Music" for yeeeears so I have to come to the conclusion that I put it on my iPod because it sounded really good.

Americans probably don't know the song because it was removed from the US version of the album, probably to censor the rude word within the song title, so here it is! After seven years of it being released I am very sure that you've heard it anyway.

My iPod #225: The Beatles - Cry Baby Cry

Uni work starts again from tomorrow until April. Can't wait. Early wake ups three times a week and sitting through two hour lectures on a Friday. What could be better.

Never mind. Life goes on.

"Cry Baby Cry" may be another track out of the many on "The Beatles" that some consider to be filler. On the contrary I think it has as much worth as "Dear Prudence" and "Glass Onion" on the track list, even if it is not as highly regarded as the former or as continuously questioned as the latter.

"Sing a Song of Sixpence" always comes to mind when I hear this song, seeing as many words in that nursery rhyme are found in the track. A king is there, a parlour is mentioned, a queen and so on and so forth. But this track does not have a cheerful melody like that rhyme. In fact, this is the total opposite of what a nursery rhyme should be.

The descending phrase from E Major to G Major within the verses mixed with some minor chords along the way, John Lennon's light and barely double tracked vocal and that harmonium in the introduction make this track very moody and quite saddening to listen to. It makes it even worse knowing that it's the last time you hear Lennon's voice on the album.

The actual track ends before it switches to Paul McCartney with a guitar singing "Can You Take Me Back", which makes it even weirder and creepy. Then the next track "Revolution 9" starts and it goes all over the place from there.